Nothing against Sim Earth, Civilization, or other blockbuster "god games," but my idea of playing god involves a lot less wonky project-management and a lot more 2012-style cataclysms. What would happen if you blew up the Moon? Or ripped up Saturn's rings with a hail of rogue planets? Or rammed two whole galaxies together? Not only would it be awesome, you'd probably learn a bunch about astrophysics without even noticing it. At least, that's what "Universe Sandbox" is hoping. Here's a preview of what it lets you do:

Geeks love infographics. You know it, we know it. But it's easy to forget that data-viz isn't just catnip for the Twitterati — discerning gentlemen and -women 150 years ago loved it, too. BibliOdyssey knows this, and has curated a stunning set of Victorian-era infographics that would make Edward Tufte green with envy. (Indeed, he includes several of them in his landmark book Envisioning Information.)